


His Protégé

by SilverScyther



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry's parents live, Ron Weasley Bashing, Slightly less Evil Tom, Somewhat Darker Hermione, Teacher Remus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23251048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverScyther/pseuds/SilverScyther
Summary: Syltherin's golden boy Tom Riddle was everything Hermione wanted to be, someone who was loved and praised for his skills instead of shunned like herself. When Hermione looked to him she saw someone who could be a mentor, when Tom looked back he saw a girl with the potential to be a soldier. Surprisingly their interests lined up better than expected.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Tom Riddle
Comments: 168
Kudos: 233





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone is taking care, staying safe, and maintaining their health. Please enjoy my story.
> 
> In terms of the setting: The war hasn't happened because Tom and his cronies are only third years while Hermione is a first year. However the teachers and the parents of the first years are all grown so that generation came before Tom's because I felt like it. I promise it all makes sense and it's set current day.

Hermione had a crush, it was undeniable, but she felt silly because she didn't want to be like Lavender and Pavarti who were always talking about boys. Still in her mind it was different, she didn't like him just because he was handsome, which he was, she liked Tom Riddle because he was intelligent. She only noticed him because when he wasn't studying in the library he was stopping by to pick up books and because she had been compared to him more than once by professors who lauded her for her performance in class. He was Slytherin's golden boy and she aspired to be like him, to be appreciated for her knowledge rather than resented for it.

She reasoned that she handled her crush perfectly well, because she didn't sit and giggle or stare mooning at him. If they were both in the library she did afford herself opportunities to peek at him when she took breaks, but nothing that would seriously distract from her work. It was one of those library sessions where they were both studying that he approached her for the first time, "I'm sorry, but when I spoke to Madam Pince she said you checked out the last copy of "A Study of Ancient Numerology", I'm planning to use it as a supplementary source for my Arithmancy essay. Would you mind if I borrowed it?" He gestured to a book she had open on the library table and gave her a charming smile that left her fighting off a blush.

She found that she couldn't look directly at him so she avoided his gaze and nodded adding, "Of course, I was just doing a bit of light reading anyway." Hermione waited for some negative remark from the boy who she'd been looking up to from afar. Despite her time at Hogwarts being relatively short she'd been almost conditioned to expect disparaging comments from her classmates.

He hummed before asking, "What year are you? Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look old enough to be taking Arithmancy, it's a third year and above course. Since I haven't seen you in my class you'd have to be at least a fourth year, which I doubt." There wasn't any accusation only open curiosity.

"First year, but there's nothing wrong with trying to learn new things," she hated how she immediately felt the need to become defensive, but she was in the right. This was a place of learning so why shouldn't she do exactly that?

She was slightly surprised when he chuckled lightly, a sound she decided she very much liked, and replied, "Seeking knowledge is always something to be praised." He reached for the book he'd asked for and she shuffled a bit to make it easier to reach. "What's your name?" He asked as he picked the book up, his tone still light and conversational.

"Hermione Granger," her voice was still less sure than his, but she'd held herself together far better than she expected when confronted by her crush.

"Alright then, Hermione Granger," he seemed to test her name, "I'll keep my eye out for you, clearly you have good taste in books." As he walked away she was impressed by how kind he was to a younger student especially considering the usual animosity between Slytherins and Gryffindors. If she was going to be a silly girl and have a crush she was glad it was on someone so nice.

* * *

As time slowly passed, the relationships she had with her house members remained largely negative or apathetic, the only person she could count as a friend was Neville. He was sweet, but they had little to talk about, unless she was helping him with schoolwork which wasn't very stimulating not that she particularly minded. She didn't have any direct issues with her dorm mates, but they certainly were closer with each other than they were with her and she didn't know how to relate to them. Everyone else either didn't care much about her or disliked how well she did. Still she refused to hold back to suit other people and it only encouraged her to work harder.

The other thing that didn't change was the way her eyes seemed to find their way to Tom Riddle when she allowed them to wander and she was positive that he'd caught her staring a few times. He'd greet her if they met in the library, but didn't make any moves to start conversing with her so she decided to take the initiative. She waited until he was alone in the library, she wouldn't dare approach him when he friends were around. As kind as he was he didn't keep great company, the other third year Slytherin boys would certainly pick on her for a multitude of reasons.

He didn't seem to notice her approach until she was just in front of the table he'd spread his books upon, he greeted her first, "Hermione, it's nice to see you again. Do you need anything?"

"Are you busy?" She asked not wanting to bother him if he was doing something important, but he pushed the books in front of him away slightly and turned his attention fully to her.

"I'm not doing anything that can't wait a few minutes, what brings you over here?" He asked and she managed to meet his gaze despite wanting to look at her feet.

"I just wanted to know if you had any book recommendations," she knew instinctively that he wasn't someone who'd be content with just what the curriculum provided and she thought if anyone would have a good idea of what would be most helpful to study it would be him.

"Book recommendations?" He repeated back, expecting a bit more clarification, and she knew she'd have to be a bit more specific.

"You're one of the best students this school has had in quite some time, objectively speaking, so I figured that you've probably been exploring magic outside what's required. I just wanted to know if you had any suggestions about what I should look into as someone who is a few years ahead of me," she rushed through her words and hoped he wouldn't brush her off as an annoying first year trying to get his attention.

"So you'd want me to work as a mentor of sorts?" His expression appeared slightly more calculated than she was used to.

"Oh, no I wouldn't want you to waste that much time, I just wanted a few suggestions," she tried to assuage what she thought would bother him, obviously he wouldn't want to waste free time helping her. What exactly could she provide him in return?

"To start I'd need to know just how advanced you are, please take a seat," he gestured for her to pull a chair up, "we'll do a quick run through of what you've studied." They went through the material a first year would need to know and Hermione had already memorized it all. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, with all the time you spend in the library I wouldn't be shocked if you already finished the second year material." One look at her face and he clearly was able to read her expression, "fair enough. I suppose we're lucky I'm already ahead of my peers as well otherwise I wouldn't have much to teach you."

"Sorry," she wasn't sure why she was apologizing, but she vaguely felt like she should.

"Don't be, the pursuit of knowledge is always something to be praised," he nearly repeated his words from not too long ago. "Give me a few days and I'll write up some reading suggestions as well as some specific things to look into."

* * *

Beneath the surface of his benign smiles, Tom was mentally planning on how best to use Hermione. When he initial approached her for his book he had no interest in any further interactions, but now that she was standing in front of him he realized there was some potential. As much as his instinct was to send her on her way, he knew better than to waste an opportunity. She was the perfect choice for a wolf in sheep's clothing, she was friendless, naive, and believed in his false personality enough to develop an obvious crush on him. It certainly didn't hurt that she was clearly smarter than her peers and might actually prove useful, rather than the majority of the fools he was often surrounded by. The only reason he didn't care about her blood status was because she was a pawn who nobody would link to him and he didn't intend for her to get too involved in his plans or ever meet his knights who would appreciate a mud-blood even less than him.

It would take time, but he'd have his own little Gryffindor weapon if he moved the pieces in the correct ways.

She wanted to be his protege, but he would make her his soldier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and please feel free to let me know what you thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione's good mood lasted until potions the day after Tom agreed to offer some ideas for her to study. It wasn't that potions was an uninteresting subject and she didn't dislike Professor Slughorn, but she hated when they occasionally worked with a partner and disliked having attention drawn to herself. Most teachers praised her, but Slughorn really laid it on thick and while at times it was nice little ego boost most of the time all she could feel were the eyes of her peers on her. Having a partner was also a problem, she always chose Neville because nobody wanted to partner with either of them and Neville's nerves tripped him up so she spent half the time preventing him from making a mistake.

Normally none of that would be enough to actually bother her, but today Slughorn wanted to "shake things up", which she somehow knew would be a problem. "Alright, class I think we should swap around our normal pairs and let you work with someone new." Hermione internally cringed, but didn't let it show instead she watched as everyone was forced to shuffle seats around her attention was dragged back to Slughorn when he called her name, "Hermione Granger you'll work with Harry Potter. Lucky you Harry, you get to work with our resident potions master," Slughorn sent a wink to Harry who tried to smile.

Honestly Hermione felt like the lucky one, Harry was one of the few people in her year that she thought was a genuinely kind person. They hadn't spoken much, but he was always polite to her and the only times she'd seen him actually get angry at anyone was when dealing with Draco Malfoy who wasn't her favorite person either. "Hello, Harry," she greeted him neutrally trying to summon up some expression that didn't betray her feelings of discomfort.

"Uh, hi Hermione, let's try to work together well. Not that you need help, but I'll do my best not to mess anything up," he scratched his head and Hermione could tell he didn't mean it in a negative way so she merely nodded and offered to grab the ingredients asking him to set up his cauldron. On her way back to her seat carrying the necessary ingredients for their Forgetfulness Potion she saw Neville was paired up with Ron Weasley. She couldn't imagine that duo having an easy time. She didn't want to call Ron a mean-spirited person, but he was someone who easily became jealous so she didn't know much about him. Just from her experience in classes she felt he wouldn't work well with Neville, he didn't seem to have the patience to guide or knowledge to take charge.

Still she couldn't worry too much about them, she had her own work to do, Harry had placed his cauldron on the desk and she could tell immediately it was of higher quality than hers. That was largely why if they were sharing she'd rather use his cauldron. The school required pewter cauldrons so she didn't look at any other types when initially buying, but students from wizarding families especially rich ones knew to get higher quality products to produce better results. Not that she needed anything special to be at the top the class.

For the first part of the class things were quiet, Harry easily followed her instructions and they seemed to work well together. The problems didn't start until after she finished the initial stage and let the potion brew. On his way to get extra ingredients Malfoy, "accidentally" dropped a few Valerian sprigs into their potion and almost immediately the color of their potion changed from a perfect orange to a sickly looking yellow.

Harry turned his gaze to Malfoy who tried to look innocent and gave a fake apology, before Harry could get worked up Hermione grabbed his shoulder, "Harry I need you to grab some ingredients," before he could ask she continued, "I need a vial of Lethe River Water, five Mistletoe Berries, and three measures of Standard Ingredient." She wasn't sure how much she would need, but having more was better than not having enough.

Thankfully rather than question her Harry followed her instructions and returned with the ingredients she demanded. She sprang into action, since Malfoy had likely at least doubled the amount of Valerian Sprigs that the potion called for, she would just have to try doubling the rest of the ingredients to theoretically equal things out and end up with a double batch. The problem was trying to match things perfectly without knowing exactly how much Malfoy added plus the class didn't run long enough to brew the larger potion for much longer than the standard amount of time, which meant she had to try upping the heat.

It wasn't a sure fire thing, so to speak, but she cast an engorgement charm on the flame heating their potion. Harry nearly fell over as the flame jumped to life, growing in size and intensity. "Wicked, but are we allowed to do that?" he whispered to her as a few students looked at the large flame heating their cauldron.

"Thankfully, you have a copper cauldron, it has a higher melting point than pewter or brass so using extra heat is fine," Hermione assured him as the fire continued to burn merrily.

"Cool," he nodded still looking bit apprehensive as Hermione kept adding drops of Lethe Water and Valerian trying to get the color where she wanted.

"Can you grind up the mistletoe, please," Hermione asked without looking over, she was busy dropping in three of their measures of Standard Ingredient. Harry nodded silently and started grinding the mistletoe in the mortar. She thanked him as she added pinches of it watching the color again, once she was pleased she stirred it a few times waved her wand and turned off the heat. The class came to a close almost immediately after she'd finished, their potion was still cooling as Slughorn came around checking their work.

He leaned over their potion and nodded, "It looks perfect," he sniffed the potion and quickly pulled back, "and it's quite strong." He coughed slightly shaking his head as if to clear it.

"I apologize professor," Hermione glared at Malfoy, "there was an accident."

"No, it's no problem at all I watched you two and I was very impressed. In fact why don't you each have 20 points for quick thinking, good teamwork, and an impressive result," Slughorn granted them a smile before looking at Malfoy and adding, "Mr. Malfoy, I'll need to take 10 points from Slytherin for your carelessness. You nearly ruined their potion."

Malfoy apologized again through gritted teeth and Harry grinned at his failure looking back to Hermione he said, "Good job showing Malfoy, I'm glad we got a chance to partner up."

"Yeah, it was nice, but of course Malfoy's just going to be more annoying in the future," Hermione tried not to sound like she was whining, but she didn't think Malfoy would give up on bothering her.

"Don't worry I've got your back," Harry smiled and Hermione wondered if this is what it felt like to have friends.

"Thanks," she replied hesitantly. Before either could get into further conversation Slughorn dismissed them and Hermione hurried out of class wanting to stop by the library before dinner.

* * *

Hermione didn't want to stay in the library long, but she still wanted to check out a few books on potions. She was fairly lucky because Malfoy dropped something into the potion that was already meant to be there so it didn't ruin it entirely, but she wanted to know what to do if he threw in something more volatile or something that changed the consistency of the potion.

She was quick enough to make it to dinner where as usual she sat near her dorm mates, not that they interacted much. She didn't stay for long, she'd never been a big eater and there wasn't much conversation to hold her. Generally she read her books in the library, but occasionally she checked them out to read in her room or the common room just for a change of location.

Once she was nearly to Gryffindor tower she saw who she thought was Tom walking down the hall away from her, hoping to see if he'd made any progress on making a curriculum of sorts for her she jogged to catch up. He went around a corner, but by the time she caught up he had disappeared. She was certain she hadn't been seeing things and it wasn't a ghost she was following.

From reading _Hogwarts a History_ she knew there were various alcoves and hidden places that hadn't been officially cataloged so she tried slowly walking down the hallway keeping one hand on the wall carefully feeling for anything, she repeated the process on the other side and after trying a third time she nearly gave up. Just as she contemplated heading back to her dorm and cutting her losses a door appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

She wondered if Tom would mind if she entered, but he was always so kind she doubted he's be mad. If she was really disturbing him, she'd leave, but it likely wouldn't be a problem. Of course the door might be locked and it wouldn't matter, she could always explore later.

She pushed lightly on the door and was happy that it swung open easily, Tom whirled around when he heard the door and before she could speak a word there was a spell headed her way.

* * *

Tom wasn't even thinking when he sent a curse at whoever opened the door, he usually wasn't so impulsive or jumpy, but this was the first time someone other than himself was in the room. Looking at his unfortunate victim he saw the bushy haired first year, Granger, lying on the floor having just dodged his spell. He hadn't finished training himself with memory spells so unless he wanted to fry her brain he'd have to charm his way out of this, since killing her would cause too much of a stir.

"I'm so sorry Hermione, are you alright? You just surprised me while I was practicing defense against the dark arts," he half lied, he was practicing the dark arts, just not defense, "this is my secret training room and I didn't expect anyone else to enter." He still didn't know how she got in, why would the castle respond to the desires of a little mudblood?

"I'm sorry for scaring you," she apologized and he felt the urge to correct her, he certainly wasn't scared of her.

"It's no issue, but I'm really shocked you found this place, it's special and most people don't know about it," he kept his voice friendly.

"I saw you come in this direction and I knew the castle has secrets rooms so I looked around," she responded, still looking a little shaky from nearly getting her head blown off, but she didn't mention it.

"Smart girl," he falsely praised her and nearly rolled his eyes at her slight blush, "can you keep this room a secret? I don't want to share it with everyone and if you want we can practice together here." It'd probably be best to keep track of when she used the room so she couldn't tell all her little friends, not that she actually seemed to have any.

"Okay it'll be our secret," she promised with a smile that was so genuine it almost made him laugh.

"Since we're already here why don't I start you on practicing some things," he offered, "we were lucky you didn't get hurt this time, but it's important for you to know how to defend yourself. Especially if people start bullying you worse, most people your age don't know dangerous spells yet, but that'll change as time goes on." He tried to act caring, but this had worked as a perfect segway to convince her to start on spells useful for battle rather than whatever silly things she wanted to learn. Of course he had to start carefully, he could hardly open with her learning any dark magic, she was a Gryffindor.

"That makes sense," she agreed nodding her head and he was pleased by how malleable she was. She was looking around the room, which had been set to his needs. Very minimalistic, a couch and table sat in the center of the room, but the rest was completely open with a few chandeliers providing the light to keep everything visible. He supposed the high ceiling were impressive considering the room shouldn't have been as large as it was, but he'd stopped being impressed after his first visit. He'd learned just accept magic as it was.

"Let's start with what I consider the most important defensive spell that can be learned, Protego," he waved his wand and the couch he'd had in place around went sliding to the wall, the table quickly following. That left plenty of room for whatever they chose to do, in this case practice spells.

"Isn't that spell commonly taught in fifth year?" Hermione asked though she didn't say no, not that Tom expected her to.

"So? Hermione, if you're talented you shouldn't sit and wait to learn things, you need to be practical and learn what's necessary whenever you can." Tom gestured for her to leave her place by the door and join him in the middle of room before speaking again, "Now watch my movements, I'll show how it's done." He whipped his wand and cast the spell as if it was second nature and by this point it was. He saw her eyes tracking him and knew she was hungry to learn, that was the look he wanted to see. "Cast a spell at me and I'll show you how it's done in battle."

"Are you sure?" She asked looking slightly uncomfortable with the idea of casting a spell at him.

"Do you really doubt me?" He asked smiling, but he was honestly annoyed. Did she really think she could injure him?

"Of course not," she shook her head emphatically. He saw her narrow her eyes and lift her wand, she took a breath before quickly casting a knockback jinx. He could tell there was no desire to injure him, the spell had very little intent behind it. Her conscience was going to hold her back if she was scared to hurt someone. They would deal with that next, her inability to put force behind an attack.

"The wand movement is extremely simple show it to me," he nodded as she brought her wand down in a copy of his own movements, "Alright now try casting the actual spell."

Since the spell was invisible, he couldn't tell from glance alone something had to hit it, he sent some sparks just to see if she succeeded. The sparks came into contact with something, but the shield was weak and with a bit of force he could crack it easily. From the look on her face she wasn't happy with the result either, but it was the first attempt he could forgive it not being exceptional, especially because some pathetic adults couldn't cast it at all. "Technically you got it, but it was too weak. Magic requires intent and power, I know you have more power than that and you performed it correctly so it means something was wrong with your desire to cast it correctly. Your intent wasn't there."

"Sorry I-" she began, but he wasn't one to listen to excuses

"I don't care if you're sorry, just do better," he spoke without thinking too deeply on whether or not she'd be offended, but thankfully she seemed to respond well to tough love.

She squared up and cast it again, this time he sent a weak hex at it and it held, but it still wasn't strong enough for his taste. "You need to be strong enough to handle anything, I don't care what you have to do, but think of every spell coming at you as deadly because that's the mentality you need to cast a strong shield. That wasn't enough to deal with the other students," he lied, knowing that a first year couldn't do anything that would even require a shield charm to deflect, but it was better for her to be paranoid then weak. "Now again."

* * *

Hermione didn't know how long she spent with Tom, but after getting her shield charm up to what he considered acceptable he moved on to casting speed, he said they could worry about learning stronger spells a little later on, he wanted her to be able get the basics of dueling down first. She didn't think she needed to worry about dueling, first years couldn't join the dueling club, but in just one session she felt much more confident.

She also saw a slightly different side of Tom, he was a strict teacher, but certainly effective it was really commendable. Maybe he'd be a teacher in the future.

She almost forgot about the potions books in her bag, she still wanted to read through them, but she was looking forward to Tom's practical lessons more than reading which was something she was almost shocked by. He said when he was ready to teach her again, he'd find her in the library, until then he asked that she stay out of their special room. He explained the room reacted differently to different people and he didn't want anything to happen to her, she wasn't scared, but she appreciated his concern enough to honor his request.

He really was a good person was her last thought before she curled up in her bed with a potions book, with a quick lumos she lost herself in the pages trying to soak up the knowledge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and please feel free to let me know what you thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Tom really disliked girls, at least those around his age, they seemed dedicated to batting their eyelashes at him and trying to act cute. The idea of a relationship in general baffled him and physical contact was something he generally avoided, but no many how many times he rejected girls they didn't give up on him. The annoyance of being approached by a girl on his way to breakfast played a role in his current mood, still he disguised the majority of his negativity and ate normally. The only positive thing he could say about Hermione's obvious crush was that she never acted on it and tried to hide it, although she failed it did make it easier to ignore. 

How a first year Gryffindor muggle-born could show restraint where pure-blooded Slytherin girls two years older couldn't, despite being raised in high society was honestly baffling. Thankfully he chose to surround himself with other boys not that he particularly cared for any of them either, but they did have their uses.

Abraxas, one of the few associates he could trust was speaking to him, but Tom was barely listening, the rest of his focus was on how to figure out who his family was. He'd checked the school records for anyone named Riddle, but he didn't come up with anything. He needed to figure out where to search next, most of his house chose to ignore his status as an orphan and just pretended he was as pure as anybody else. Charm and fear were a good combination, still he was only a third year so it wasn't that the older students ignored his status it was just that they didn't care about him. It was his younger peers that he had to convince and he had been able to, they were just willing cattle following his lead.

* * *

Hermione stepped into her defense against the dark arts class and with just a glance she could see Harry was in a good mood, it wasn't a surprise considering their professor and his love of the subject. It was probably Hermione's weakest subject if only because her straight forward knowledge wasn't always applicable in the face of subjective hands-on work the professor favored, though she maintained her position at the top of the class with perfect essays keeping her there.

She would certainly admit that professor Lupin was probably the most interesting instructor she had, although she'd readily admit professor McGonagall was her favorite. As a werewolf professor Lupin had experienced things none of them could fully understand. He was an advocate for werewolf rights before he began working at the school a few years ago, from her understanding. Opinions of him seemed very split the Gryfindors all loved him, but some students namely Slytherin disliked him because of his status as a werewolf.

The rest of the students opinions varied, the fact that he didn't exactly suit the idea of a werewolf was helpful. He did have a few visible scars, but with his kind attitude, soft smiles, and jumpers he often gave the appearance of being harmless. She knew he even had a few fans, kids who thought being a werewolf was oddly cool, despite everything they were forced to go through and others who were apparently into scars. Though he was almost fired every year, out of panic from first year parents when they learned a werewolf was teaching, he maintained his position because he gave the students a good education. Some people claimed it was a spell that no matter what he wouldn't get fired.

She didn't make a point of prying into her professor's private lives, but she did know he was like an uncle to Harry, thanks to a close friendship with his parents. Regardless of anything else, he was always very nice to her and that was what she chose to form her opinion around. He always made time to speak to her when she asked about how werewolves were treated by society, one day she wanted to change things for disadvantaged groups and he seemed to appreciate the sentiment. His position in Hogwarts allowed him to live a very different life than most werewolves who were ostracized in society.

"Today we'll be learning about the smokescreen spell, can anybody tell me the incantation?" He asked and pointed to Hermione when her hand shot up first, "Miss Granger?"

"The incantation is Fumos," she answered confidently and ignored the huff of annoyance from someone behind her.

"Correct, take five points for Gryffindor," he replied easily and asked, "Does anybody know the wand movement?"

"Miss, Granger," he pointed when her hand was again first in the air, once again she ignored the grumble behind her and showed the movements, "Take another five points and class do try to remember I have excellent hearing. If you want to complain about someone answering the questions I ask, I will know about it. Let's all respect each other," he very politely chastised whoever had been behind her. "Now I'll show the class," He cast the spell easily and a wave of smoke sprayed from his wand, after letting it hang in the air for a moment he waved his wand and vanished it. "Who wants to be the first to try it? How about you Mr. Malfoy?" He asked Draco who she guessed had been the one complaining about her.

Hermione was a bit annoyed when Draco managed to cast the spell passably. "Nicely done Draco, try to be a bit more fluid in your movements, but for a first attempt I think that's worth five points for Slytherin," he patted the boy on the shoulder and Draco threw the class a smug smile, sometimes professor Lupin really was too nice. "But if I hear you talking about other students again, I'll gladly take those away," he added and Draco's smirk disappeared as he walked back to the group. Hermione decided that was a bit better.

"Now everyone spread out and let's all try the spell, I'll be coming around to correct you so don't worry if it's not perfect," he gestured for everyone to take a spot and with a flick of his wrist all the chairs moved to the corner of the room. Hermione was briefly reminded of Tom, but she didn't let the thought distract her from casting the spell correctly.

Class ended fairly uneventfully a few students had problems with wand movements or mumbling, but it wasn't a difficult spell so there were any injuries aside from a few people getting a face full of smoke and a few scalded fingertips.

Immediately after class Draco headed her off in the hallway his friends with him, "You really can't stop showing off can you, Mud-blood? You had to have that werewolf defend you, what a pair," Draco tried to mock her, but honestly she wasn't particularly bothered today. She cared more people being rude when it was her own house, she just expected Malfoy's rotten behavior, it lost its effect after a certain amount of time.

Before she could say anything as a retort Harry appeared out of almost nowhere, "Don't talk about her like that just because she's better than you and leave Remus out of it. Barely managing to cast a spell doesn't make you tough," She mentally noted his use of professor Lupin's first name, but it wasn't her place to correct him.

Neither of them were able to fully get into a fight before professor Lupin's voice carried over from inside the classroom, "These werewolf ears of mine are pretty sure they're hearing something in the hallway." His voice was light, nothing seemed to bother him much, but Draco still darted off his goons following on his heels apparently he was afraid he'd get in trouble.

Professor Lupin stepped into the hallway closing the door behind himself, "Good job defending your friend Harry. Why don't you take five points for displaying a necessary trait for Gryffindors, loyalty." Hermione wasn't sure how to say they weren't really friends without it sounding extremely rude and since Harry didn't seem inclined to correct him, Hermione stayed silent and Lupin addressed her, "Hermione, nice job as usual in class today, I'm always impressed. You'll have to make sure Harry studies once in a while, Merlin knows I was always on James' case, Sirius and Peter too."

Hermione had no idea who Peter was, Sirius she knew because he occasionally filled in for professor Lupin when classes fell around a full moon, those classes tended to be rather disorganized. There were a few theories about Sirius ranging from him being another werewolf there to spend full moons, a caretaker hired for professor Lupin during recover, a lover there to comfort his partner, or a friend filling in, all she really knew for sure was that the girls appreciated him coming in.

"Yeah, yeah," Harry answered swatting at the hand professor Lupin had been patting him with, but it was friendly. Hermione felt very out of place with their obviously close relationship so she bade the pair farewell and made her way to the library, she wanted to return some of the books she'd borrowed the other day. The last of them she'd finished earlier in the day during a break.

Wandering to the library she entertained the idea that she and Harry could be friends, but she was knocked out of that thought process when she was intercepted by Tom he was exiting the library just as she was about to enter, "Meet me in the Room of Requirement, after dinner." He didn't pause his steps and Hermione was left staring after him for a moment. She could only assume he meant their secret room, she hadn't even known the room had a specific name, but it made sense considering the room provided what you required. She returned her books and began walking to the Great Hall. Knowing she was going to get to spend more time with Tom only brought her mood up further.

* * *

"Alright now this time I'll show you how to defend yourself using offensive spells, or use someone else's magic against them," Tom said in lieu of a greeting when Hermione stepped into the Room of Requirement rather than say anything she simply nodded and took out her wand, which Tom appreciated, he didn't want to chat with her, "Pick a spell and cast it, if there's a way to throw it back I'll do so, if not I'll just use protego or dodge. It's important to have good discernment in battle."

Tom took a few steps further from her before gesturing for her to get to it, the less time he dealt with her the better. "Fumos," she cast a smokescreen at him and it was a perfect setup.

All it took to send it flying back at her was a quick, "Ventus." The blast of wind sending the smoke to obscure her vision, if he felt like it he could manipulate the spell into a whirlwind around her, but at that point it would just be showing off and he didn't care enough to impress her.

It took a few moments for her to clear the smoke and a bit longer for her to recover and stop coughing. "Sorry I breathed a bit of smoke in," she apologized, but he waved it off.

"Now you'll try to intercept a spell I send at you. If you can't think of anything just use protego, the spell shouldn't be strong enough to break through," he explained before deciding on a spell. "Aqua Erupto," he cast the spell keeping the strength just high enough to spray straight at her.

He saw her mentally running through spells and it was only at the last second she finally cast the incantation, "Glacius." Considering her hesitancy and the fact that she had to cast the spell at the last second, he was impressed that it worked fairly well. His stream of water stopped in the air turning into slush, so it wasn't perfect, but it got the job done.

"Decent, now try the same spell on me and let me show you how it's done. Go full power, I want to see what you can do," he commanded wanting to both show her the difference between them and to show her what she needed to be able to do before he'd label her useful.

She cast the spell and he was pleased to note she reigned in any hesitancy about firing on him, clearly she could be convinced not to hold back if pushed. He cast glacius as she had, but his spell fully turned the water into ice and with a whip of his wand it broke into shards and went flying at her. She had enough sense to erect a shield to prevent the shards from hitting her, which he supposed was good. He didn't want to have to take her to the hospital wing and explain wounds nor did he have much training in the healing arts. He supposed he could assign that as homework, he was more interested in other forms of magic.

About halfway through their training he noticed she seemed slightly distracted which just meant he was going to waste time if she didn't get herself together. He forced himself to sound concerned, or the closest he could bother to muster, "Hermione, your mind seems to be somewhere else is anything wrong?"

"Earlier today someone called me a mud-blood," she explained and Tom wanted to laugh, it wasn't a lie and that was hardly the worst thing that could happen, however she continued, "I don't really care what Malfoy says and being called a mud-blood doesn't bother me that much, I'm muggle-born and I'm fine with that." How someone could be fine with that Tom didn't know, but she was still talking, "I know you're nothing like him, but I've never asked your opinion about blood purity. I know being in Slytherin doesn't mean you're automatically prejudiced, but I'd feel better if I heard you say it. It's important to me." Her voice was soft at the end and Tom was getting tired.

"Hermione, I don't care if you're muggle-born," he wasn't lying, of course her blood status meant she was lower than him just by birth, but at the moment it wasn't important, "I wouldn't spend so much time with you, if that upset me." He carefully didn't mention his views on blood purity in general, though it was more of a hatred of muggles than an inherent belief that being a wizard made you more talented, there were certainly weak wizards among the pure-bloods, not that he thought she'd appreciate that caveat.

"I already believed that's how you felt, but I value your opinion so I just wanted to hear it. Considering you might not be pure-blooded either it makes sense," she spoke carelessly not realizing she was walking into a dangerous territory.

"What do you mean?" His tone was deceptively light, but his hand was twitching towards his wand, it was an unspoken rule that everyone avoid this topic. She even implied that he could be a mud-blood.

"I might not mind not having wizards for parents, but I certainly am interested in looking at how twisted up the family trees are for wizarding families. I did plenty of reading and I'm fairly certain Riddle isn't a wizarding family, unless your roots are outside Europe, so if you're half blooded it must be on your mother's side. What's your middle name? I want to see if I can guess your mother's family," she was still ridiculously casual assuming this was some sort of game. Clearly she didn't know about his status as an orphan, which considering it was another hush-hush topic wasn't shocking.

"Maybe you'll have better luck than me, I'm an orphan so I don't know either of my parents," he didn't allow himself to sound too bitter, lest he seem weak, "My name is Thomas Marvolo Riddle. Have at it."

She looked heartbroken for him and it was ridiculous, he didn't need her pity and he certainly didn't want it. She didn't have the right to look at him like he was broken. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea," and of course she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

Really it's fine, honestly when people pity me I feel uncomfortable," he tried to get her to shut up in the nicest way possible. He was a good actor, but it almost wasn't worth the effort, all he wanted to do was curse her at this point.

She took a few deep breaths and finally managed to get herself under control, but after a few seconds he saw her expression shift again this time looking like she was deep in thought, "Wait, where do I know the name Marvolo from?"

"What?" He asked, he knew he was named after his father and because he refused to believe his mother was a wizard he'd only searched under Riddle in old records. Tom didn't expect Hermione to actually know anything, he honestly wasn't sure why he bothered to tell her in the first place, but if she could shorten his search it might have been worth revealing a bit about himself.

She repeated the name under her breath few times before looking at him, "Of course, Marvolo Gaunt. I gave most families just a cursory glance and made sure I knew the Sacred 28, but I looked more in depth at recent descendants of the families of the Hogwarts founders." She paused to think again, "The Gaunt family was directly related to Salzar Slytherin and although I'd be guessing about the timing, if he had a daughter she could be the right age to conceivably be your mother. Of course we don't have any proof, you can't tell just by looks, but it's certainly enough reason to start there. Maybe you were destined to be in Slytherin, I don't know do you think I'm right?"

Tom for once was actually feeling something bordering on shock and suddenly everything made sense. Even if he did have a muggle for a parent he was directly related to Salzar Slytherin, there was a reason he was better than everyone else. It also explained some of his abilities,"I'm a parseltongue," he said not being able to fully hide his mounting excitement.

"Which was one of Slytherin's most significant traits and almost exclusively hereditary," Hermione added which Tom already knew, but he couldn't be bothered to be annoyed. Hearing it out loud was just further confirmation of who he was, he would need to look into this more, but he could feel that it was right.

"You clever, clever little witch," he approached her wondering if his expression was as wild as he felt, "anything, ask me for anything and I'll give it to you." She might be a mudblood, but she'd just given him something nobody else had, his legacy.

"I don't know," she looked a little shocked herself, possibly by his attitude.

He got himself somewhat under control, "Think about your reward, we'll pick this up later. Apparently I have some research to do." He knew realistically he could have found this out and eventually would have, but for now he was in a good enough mood to give some credit to his little soldier. He'd made the right choice with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading please feel free to let me know what you thought.


	4. Chapter 4

It's almost a week before she sees him again, really sees him anyway. Of course he's a constant presence in the castle, but other than meals he'd been noticeably absent, she only noticed because she found herself looking. Eventually he does approach her hidden in between library shelves and he's more himself than the almost manic version she'd seen when they were last in the Room of Requirement. As almost scary as the personality shift had been, she was privately a bit happy that she got to see a different side of him. She also had been trying to think of what she would want as a reward, provided he had been serious when he promised to give her something.

"Hermione," he greeted her with a nod back to his normal pleasant self, "thank you for your insight the other day, when summer comes around I'll be making some visits. Now, I did promise to give you something, have you thought about what you want?"

Hermione nodded, "You mentioned you're a parseltongue, I was wondering if you could show me. I'd like to see you speaking to a snake, it's unlikely I'll ever meet another parseltongue and it's a fascinating branch of magic."

Tom looked mildly surprised, but easily agreed, "Of course, I'd be curious about it myself if I were in your situation. We can visit the Room of Requirement, meet me there in 20 minutes I just need to finish something first."

"Of course I'll see you soon," she watched him walk out as she carefully put her books back in their proper places, choosing a few to take with her. She chose to head straight to the Room of Requirement, it wouldn't matter if she beat Tom by a few minutes and she'd get to see if the room displayed her desires differently than it did Tom's. Making her way to the seventh floor she made sure nobody paid much attention to her, she never wanted to be the one who revealed the room's location or existence.

Quickly going through the ritual of walking back and forth a few times while thinking of what she wanted a door appeared, it looked the same as ever, but she didn't know if that would hold true inside.

She stepped through and immediately saw the difference between the room Tom summoned and her own. It certainly showed a bit of her Gryffindor pride and it had a bit more character than Tom's. It didn't have any of the motifs of her house, but the colors of the walls and the fireplace had similar warm colors to her own common room, though it lacked the gold. Around the fireplace sat a comfy looking couch and a few love seats on a plush burgundy carpet.

It only took a few minutes before Tom entered the room, he looked around, but didn't comment other than to say, "how cozy." She couldn't read the tone, but chose to take it as a positive comment.

"I believe we both know why we're here, just let me find the proper conversation partner." He raised his wand and with very little flair cast, "serpensortia." A glossy black snake appeared to fly out of the tip of his wand and landed in between himself and Hermione.

He let out a hiss and immediately the snake swiveled it's head towards him hissing back in a conversation she couldn't hope to understand. Listening to Tom, the words danced along her skin, his voice alone carried vestiges of his powers with each hiss. It was more than a foreign language is was magic beyond the scope of what she could do no matter her amount of studies. She could try replicating the sounds, but she knew it would sound dead on her tongue by comparison as much as she would have liked access to such exclusive magic.

Tom crouched and held his hand out with a hiss that clearly was meant as a command the snake slid towards him wrapping around his arm and moving up his body, until it's head was level with his own and its body was stretched down his limb.

* * *

As much as Tom wasn't happy that he was forced to accommodate her, he was pleased by the reverence in her tone when she praised his skill, "Tom that's incredible, and your snake is so beautiful." Of course he expected regard for his talent, but he didn't imagine her to be so impressed by his snake summons, even some Slytherin weren't particularly fond of real snakes.

Absently petting the snake he told Hermione, "Some wizards claim that each wizard's summoning spells bring unique creatures, meaning no two snakes are the same. To my knowledge there hasn't been any true study, but Salassira has always appeared for me, so we're well acquainted." With a hiss that served as a goodbye he vanished Salassira, not needing her for any particular task.

"I assume that was enough to satisfy your curiosity and I trust you'll keep this to yourself," Tom didn't quite ask. She nodded practically vibrating with excited energy, if it wasn't so annoying her admiration might be endearing.

"I do have a question," she looked at him and when he nodded she asked, "I've heard of parselmagic, which of course is magic requiring incantations in parseltongue, but I haven't read about any examples. Is that real?"

"Yes, it's ancient magic and very specific, but the books in our library haven't provided me with any spells I can use. Perhaps there is something in the restricted section, but for now, I have nothing to show you," he explained, but avoided saying that from his understanding most of the magic would be considered dark, not that it would actually put him off.

He spoke again, "Now we're going to focus on how to make the most out of simple spells. Turning harmless spells like lumos into an effective weapon is no problem for a creative and talented wizard or witch."

He guided her through using various spells and watched her progress with satisfaction, she was coming along nicely. It'd take time to be sure, but he knew this was an investment worth making. The energy he put into molding the group he'd already gathered was almost wasted. He was only in his third year, so things would have to be paced. For now he'd keep his inner circle tight and make a name for himself in the school, sowing the seeds on his greatness. Eventually he'd begin amassing followers, but for now he needed to keep his ambitions under wraps. Nobody could be trusted, not until he was completely assured of their loyalty.

* * *

The brightest spots of Hermione's days were when she met Tom. Magic was amazing enough to consistently hold her attention so she was never bored per say during her average days, but it did get lonely. Swimming in knowledge without any close friends, wasn't always the greatest feeling. It was professor Lupin who finally called her out on it so to speak. After class ended he asked her to stay after to talk. His suggestion to getting to know some of he classmates was offering to help them with homework. He mentioned a study group he made during his time at Hogwarts that ended up attracting a large group of students.

Although she felt it wouldn't work the exact same way for her she decided to start small with Harry who she'd built a bit of a rapport with. After dinner she chose to do some reading in the common room and saw Harry poring over something with intense concentration. She closed her book and moved a bit closer, allowing her to see that he was struggling with charms homework.

"Harry," she greeted him glancing at the assignment she'd already finished, "do you need some help with your essay? I'm done with mine so I could probably offer a few pointers."

He looked at her like she was a godsend and nodded quickly, " Yes, please. It's due in two days and I haven't made a dent."

"You really should work ahead, so something like this doesn't happen," she chided gently before sitting next to him on the floor close enough to the fireplace to feel the warmth it provided against her skin.

Thankfully rather than being offended he just seemed sheepish, "I know, but I kept putting it off. I mean I get the point of the essay, but I don't have enough to write about to actually make the full length."

"Can I take a look?" Hermione asked and he shifted the paper closer to her. It wasn't bad per say, but it was superficial. The paper was meant to divide charms into groups based on your knowledge, but Harry wasn't digging deep enough. Her bag was close enough for her to stretch out and pull it over to her. She took out her notebook and flipped to the section she'd earmarked when she wrote the essay.

With a wave of her wand some of her notes transcribed themselves on a fresh piece of parchment, she passed it to him adding, "Everything else you need you'll be able to find in your charms book. I only gave you information, you need to make the conclusions and arguments yourself, but it'll save you some time researching." She was satisfied that she gave him enough to comfortably write an essay, but not enough to make it a walk in the park or write something better than her own. If he wanted to be more successful he could look things up on his own.

"Thank you so much, Hermione. Do you mind if I show this to Ron?" He asked and it wasn't as if she could stop him even if she wanted, but it was polite.

She shook her head, "feel free to use the notes to help Ronald as well, but be careful that your work doesn't seem too similar. Professor Flitwik isn't a difficult grader, but he'll notice if it seems like you're copying each other."

Harry smiled slightly, "The only reason you think he's an easy grader is because you always get high marks."

"I'm just comparing him to Professor McGonagall," Hermione responded and it was true that the transfiguration teacher was notoriously strict in her grading.

"Please don't mention her, we have another essay for her next week and she'll crush me," Harry complained good naturedly.

Hermione decided to go out on a limb, "Well, if you need help again I don't mind."

"I might take you up on that," he gave her a small smile.

"Just don't expect me to write it for you," she made sure to clarify, she might not mind helping, but she wasn't going to be made into some homework dispenser for the sake of being treated better.

"I wouldn't dream of it 'Mione," he was fully grinning now and Hermione was so pleased she didn't bother correcting him about her name. She briefly wondered if she should thank Tom, he might be a Slytherin, but he was giving her the confidence of a Gryffindor. There was never a need to be hesitant, she was in this house for a reason and it wasn't to cower while her housemates treated her like a know-it-all and the rest of the school treated her like a second-class citizen.

* * *

Tom glanced up from his breakfast and immediately he could see something was wrong, his little Gryffindor wasn't off in the corner by her lonesome she was next to some boy messy haired boy. She a tentative smile on and it didn't belong there, part of what made her a good choice was her isolation.

Still looking at the long game this would work in his favor, as charming as he could act the Gryffindor house had a tendency to reject Slytherin students no matter how likable he was. For now he didn't want his association with her known, but someday if he needed to reach out to someone she might make a useful go between. He brought his attention back to the people around him and forced himself to pay a modicum of attention to the useless chatter, the majority of his focus was focused on further exploration of his family, and possibly searching out parselmagic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and please feel free to let me know what you thought.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione very quickly came to appreciate her friendship with Harry, she was self-aware enough to know that people thought she could be difficult to deal with mainly because she was straightforward and people became uncomfortable when they felt like she was know-it-all. In her mind that was petty jealousy, but Harry was a very accepting person and she felt they fell into a friendship fairly easily. Despite usually having difficulty relating to other children her age Harry actually had a muggle-born mother and was interested in comparing what parts of the muggle world he experienced to the one's she, being raised as a muggle, experienced. She hoped their friendship would continue to develop, she was pretty sure Tom would be proud if she told him.

The rest of the Gryffindor students weren't too bad, but without shared interests they didn't make the effort to get close to her. She was also aware that once again jealousy played a role in some people's lack of interest in befriending her, but it wasn't her responsibility to make other people feel better by putting herself down. Tom was willing to teach her and not employing what she learned was almost a slight to him so if she could make friends that would be great, but not at the expense of herself. For the most part Gryffindor students weren't bullies especially around the other houses, house solidarity played a role.

Ron was an exception he actively disliked her and she knew her friendship with Harry annoyed him, but she tried to avoid bringing him up largely to spare Harry from being stuck in the middle and personally she disliked unnecessary confrontation. Eventually if he kept pushing she might snap, but for now she'd try to keep any anger from bubbling up, she barely knew Ron and she didn't care to get to know him.

Instead of stewing further she pulled a book out of her bag and sat by the fire. Talking with Tom made her want to delve deeper into wizarding lineage. It might not matter to anyone else, but she wanted to look further into whether there was really any basis for people claiming blood made a serious difference. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but she wanted to show definitive proof that it was all nonsense.

Although Tom recently seemed very interested, beyond what she'd expect, in his own bloodline she believed it came from him growing up without a family. He wasn't the type of person to look down of muggles or muggle-born students.

* * *

Tom read book after book about Slytherin and his achievements as well as delving into what he now considered his own family tree. He needed to compile some information and look deeper into it once he was outside school, but he was rather confident he was piecing together a picture of where he came from. There was something liberating about that and knowing he was the heir to Slytherin made him want to understand his ancestor. It might also act as a guide in terms of where he should be heading in life, he had his own plans, but seeing what his ancestor thought might color his opinion.

Aside from his great accomplishments one of Salzar's most well known traits was his belief that muggle-born wizards didn't deserve their magic and shouldn't be part of wizarding society. It came across as blood purity beliefs to the highest degree and the idea of genocide could easily be read between the lines from what Tom found. However, he believed there was a degree of misunderstanding, at the time muggles and the wizarding community were at odds. Witches were still being burned at stakes. Tom wasn't interested in a moral debate on whether it was fair to judge muggle-born wizards for the actions of muggles.

Nowadays people just attributed the belief to blood purity without understanding the origins of the belief that only pure-blooded wizards could be trusted. Some fools still believed muggle-born wizards somehow stole magic.

In reality Muggle-borns inherited their magic from a distant ancestor, generally squibs marrying into muggle families and rejecting their lineage. Long after magic had been forgotten it would crop up again seemingly randomly. Tom hated the people that rejected magic, both muggles and the squib ancestors who allowed their family to forget who they were. The muggle-borns themselves didn't matter much to Tom he disliked them mainly because what they represented and less who they were.

He wouldn't pretend he didn't think poorly of wizards born from and raised by muggles, but literally wanting to murder them wasn't on his current agenda. To be blatantly honest the majority of the pure-bloods around him were just as weak as anyone else, regardless of blood. Tom refused to accept or respect people that didn't have the right skills and ability regardless of birth. The exceptional would always be exceptional and the pathetic would always be pathetic no matter who they were or where they came from.

He could hardly say that aloud with his current surroundings and considering the people he chose to keep close was entirely for their blood it might seem hypocritical. The majority of his "friends" were mainly useful because one day in a bid for power he would require their political backing.

So in some ways he agreed with Slytherin, those that didn't deserve power shouldn't have it, but blood wasn't the be all end all in Tom's mind, not that it didn't play a role. Oddly enough in exploring Slytherin's beliefs and studying the history of muggle-born relations with the wizarding world his own dislike of them was slightly mitigated. That didn't mean he was going to be campaigning for equality any time soon, it was always good to have friends in high places and he couldn't risk putting them off.

Next he wanted to look further in parseltongue and related magic. He'd found about all he could on the subject outside the restricted section and he knew exactly who to ask for permission to look into the branch. Slughorn would be his best bet, he could approach him after potions class and spin a little tale.

* * *

Hermione always found charms quite easy apparently the same couldn't be said for Ron considering his wild wand swinging and mispronunciation of spells. Debating whether or not to say anything she decided finally decided to step in when he almost hit her. She stopped him and tried to explain without being too rude, "Be careful you're going to take someone's eye out and it's LeviOsa not LeviosA."

She could practically feel him frowning and he quickly challenged her, wanting her to put her money where her mouth was apparently. Which suited Hermione just fine, she cast the spell and the class watched as her feather rose into the air fluidly.

"See here everyone, Miss Granger has done it," Flitwik praised her from his position in the front of the room, "10 points to Gryffindor for excellent wandwork." Class proceeded with an unusually low amount of injuries, young magic users seemed to have some self-destructive tendencies.

"You just can't stop showing off can you?" Ron started going after her the minute class let out and Hermione was not in the mood to deal with him anymore. Tom succeeded and he didn't put up with any of this, so why should she.

"You were the one who told me to cast the spell," she pointed out and added, "and last time I checked your inability to cast simple magic isn't my fault." It was probably mean to say, but it didn't make it less true and ignoring him wasn't going to work.

"Ron, you should be happy about how many house points Hermione earns us, she's probably going to single-handedly help us beat Slytherin if she keeps doing well." Harry cut having come up behind them, "and I'm sure Hermione would be willing to help if you wanted, she's the only reason my last transfiguration essay came out decent." Harry was overestimating Hermione's patience in dealing with Ron, she didn't think she'd be able to get through a tutoring session with him, but she appreciated him trying to defend her. Of course he could be a bit more direct and flat out tell Ron he was being a jerk, but better not to start a whole new fight.

"I don't need help," Ron shot down the idea immediately.

"Tell that to the professors," Hermione wasn't able to keep herself from throwing one last comment out before turning, sending a quick goodbye to Harry, and walking away ignoring the few students who stuck around to watch the argument.

"You know what? Good for you Hermione, you really put him in his place," a voice said from beside her and out of nowhere Pavarti Patil appeared nodding as if she had been by Hermione's side while Ron antagonized her the whole time. "He's so loud, honestly I was about ready to say something."

Lavender came out of no where and appeared on her other side, "Still he's kind of cute, right?"

Still annoyed Hermione couldn't help saying, "You have horrible taste in men." She mentally froze, but before she could apologize Pavarti started laughing.

"That's what I keep telling her, what's your type Hermione?" Pavarti asked.

Although this wasn't the type of conversation Hermione was particularly interested in having this was probably the most she had spoken to either girl aside from general niceties and small talk. "I think Tom Riddle is very handsome and he seems nice."

"Of course you like a nerd," Lavender said though Hermione thought it sounded like she was joking.

"Yeah, the hottest nerd in the school," Pavarti added.

It was nice to talk to them, but Hermione was quickly getting exhausted by the conversation. It probably said something about her, but still they were only 11 or 12, she didn't know the girls birthdays. She didn't need to get too into that kind of stuff, she just wanted to go to the library. "I have to head to the library, it was nice talking to you," she said with all the social grace of someone who had no idea what they were doing.

They said their goodbyes and Hermione was going to allow herself to recharge on her own with some studying.

* * *

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about Tom, my boy?" Slughorn asked still sitting at his desk as the last of the potions class filed out.

Initially Tom had intended to flash his family history to Slughorn as a reason for him to allow Tom into the restricted section. However thinking about it, Tom wasn't sure he wanted to say anything. It could implicate him if he were to use parseltongue for something and he was known to have the ability. He had a distinct feeling that Dumbledore knew more about him than he let on and he didn't remotely trust the old man. Slughorn on the hand was a naive bumbling man, an excellent potioner and wizard to be sure, but still easily manipulated.

As a third year he had no real excuse as to why he'd require books from the restricted section, so stealing was what he'd have to resort to if he really wanted to go through with it. He doubted his "friends" would argue against the idea so getting help wouldn't be an issue.

Instead of trying to hunt down a specific book he was going to set something up now that would be useful in the long game. It was Hermione's first chance to help, whether or not she knew it. "I wanted to speak to you about something I've recently started doing. I'm sure you know Hermione Granger, she's a first year," at Slughorn's affirmation that he did know Hermione and his obvious curiosity Tom continued, "I decided to take on a role as a sort of mentor for her. I'm not much older than her, but her work ethic and desire to learn really impressed me. She actually reminds me a bit of myself actually," he could practically taste acid comparing himself to her, "I just wanted to know if down the line you'd be alright with me using some of the ingredients and the classroom. Of course I'd make sure to ask you before, but I don't want to blindside you."

"Yes, Hermione Granger she is pleasure to teach, I can see why you've taken such a shine to her. This is a place of learning and these supplies are meant to be used, I can't imagine a reason why I'd need to deny you. If you let me know when you plan on coming to the classroom I can write you passes in case you stay late, please try to keep track of what ingredients you use purely to make it easier for me to know when I'm beginning to run low. Our funding is almost endless so you don't need to worry about wasting anything."

"Thank you professor for your help and I'm happy you thought it was a good idea considering how highly I value your opinion." Tom laid it on thick with any other person it would be so blatantly over the top, but with Slughorn subtlety was a waste and more was always more, "I'd really appreciate it if you didn't spread it around though. She gets a bit embarrassed."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the first four chapters people seemed to enjoy and those were the one's I had pre-written. I wrote this one after seeing people enjoying the others so I'm going to try continuing with this story. Please keep letting me know what you think, I always appreciate it.
> 
> I basically wrote and posted it right away so if there are any mistakes I apologize I'm trying to get used to writing this story again. I'm going to stop before I trash talk my story completely, but parts of this felt so difficult to write.


	6. Chapter 6

Tom's meetings with Hermione were sporadic and generally not too long, but she seemed to absorb the knowledge and quickly picked things up. He was going to run out of things to feed into the vacuum that was her mind, unless he began reaching into the knowledge that wasn't strictly "accepted" by the school. He would need to start slowly, he'd had Abraxas borrow a book he'd previously read from his family library. It focused largely on theory of magic though it dipped into the dark arts, he could see her reaction once she'd finished reading it and perhaps guide her if her opinion was incorrect.

Towards the end of their session where he watched her practicing the healing spells his wand seemed so averse to casting she spoke up on a completely unrelated topic, "I was doing some research on potions and I think I might have discovered the magical line I'm from, or at least my magical ancestor was born."

Tom looked at her with some interest, most muggleborns never actually learned where their magic descended from. Figuring out who your dead squib ancestor, possibly multiple generations back, was as difficult as it sounded. How she'd stumbled upon that information was more interesting than actually learning who her family was. Obviously in the best case she would descend from a reputable family, but even if that was the case she'd have to do some work to try to actually work it to her advantage. "Oh, really?" He kept his tone light and interested.

"Technically I'm just going by names, but when I was studying I came across the founder of the Most Extrodinary Society Of Potioneers, Hector Dagworth-Granger. With my last name being Granger, there could be a link. Maybe a derivative of the family name when my squib ancestor left," Hermione shrugged, "it's a complete guess, but just something to think about."

"What are you going to do about it?" Tom asked. The man was certainly no Salzar Slytherin, but if he was the founder of a major organization then it really was in Hermione's best interest to try capitalizing on it.

"What do you mean?" She asked putting her wand away done with her magic for the time being.

"Well now you know you might have some relation to a prominent figure in the wizarding world. Being able to name drop is half of wizarding politics," Tom pointed out with a hint of derision towards wizarding politics.

She looked at him with a slight frown, whether in confusion or some other emotion he didn't know, "It's not something I feel like bragging about. It's interesting to know, but it wasn't something I was trying to find for any use. Besides even if we are related, however distantly, it doesn't change the fact that my parents are muggles and I'm not ashamed of that."

"Hermione, those living in the wizarding society have a penchant for ignoring and forgetting certain things," Tom felt like he was speaking to a toddler, "plenty of the sacred 28 have allowed marriages with halfbloods and even muggleborn wizards and witches for the sake of staving off inbreeding. Abraxas has a halfblood mother and nobody makes the slightest mention of it because it's in their best interest not to upset the Malfoy family. In an even more obvious case, I am not pureblooded and yet Slytherin has embraced me. They do so because I succeed, because I am charming, because I am attractive, and it is in their best interest to do so."

"Tom," Hermione gave him a sad almost pitying look and it set his blood ablaze, she had no right to pity him, "you must have had to go through so much to be accepted in Slytherin. It's really admirable that you struggled through so much and came out like you did." He fought the urge to scoff, she knew nothing about him.

"Just remember Hermione, wizards are shallow and easily manipulated don't be afraid to use that," Tom pulled out a book as he spoke, "Why don't you take this to read? It's some theory on magic Abraxas let me borrow it and I thought you might enjoy it. We can discuss it further next time we meet, I have to go finish a charms assignment." He walked out of the room of requirement with her eyes following him the whole way while he resisted the urge to curse something. He was not happy about how that conversation went, he didn't want to stay a moment longer in that room and have those sad eyes fixed on him.

* * *

Hermione's conversation with Tom left her slightly unsettled, she supposed in some ways he was right and being in Slytherin he probably learned about having to use family relations for power. Conceptually it wasn't difficult to understand, but she was proud of her family even they were dentists not wizards. If someone wanted to call her a mudblood she would only get upset because they were insulting her family not because she was ashamed of them.

Tom must have been in tough situations and the only family he had to be proud of was long dead so he viewed things differently. Plus Hermione doubted Tom really considered that aligning herself with wizarding relatives simultaneously meant pushing away her muggle family. Of course being raised as an orphan and only having dead family to be proud of played a role in his different view. Pragmatism was much easier when there was no real emotional connection to the subject and Tom had no way of placing himself in her situation.

Pushing aside any lingering unease or judgement she headed back to the common room where she would be able to check out the book Tom lent her, thanks to Abraxas. The polite thing to do would obviously be to thank the older boy, but she didn't know him and approaching an older Slytherin student would probably seem odd. Tom would have to introduce them, but she didn't anticipate that happening nor was she entirely ready to meet his friend group.

Some of them she wasn't really bothered by, but there were a few that unnerved her Dolohov and Lestrange in particular made her uncomfortable with just their general demeanor.

Flipping through the book to get a sense of what it was about, it was mainly centered around the theory of application of magic outside the intended purposes and from skimming seemed to invite discussion to look at the moral implications of doing so. She and Tom had done some work featuring multiple ways to utilize magic, like any skill its uses extend beyond any rigid idea of it's role.

She'd have to start from the beginning to truly get a feel for what the author seemed to believe, but if Tom recommended it and it came from the Malfoy library then at the very least it promised to be an interesting read.

She allowed the sound of wizarding chess, students speaking, and the crackling fire to fall into the background as she let herself sink into the book.

* * *

Tom didn't know what expression was currently on his face, but it clearly was enough to have some of his friends flinch back when he fixed his gaze on them. Apparently Arcturus Black didn't get the memo not to approach him when he wasn't in a good mood because the second year went right up to him and asked what was wrong. Although Regulas Black was his father he took certain attributes from his uncle Sirius and unfortunately it was in all the wrong ways. He could play the pureblood prince as well as any of them when needed, but he defaulted to overly casual and familiar when left to his own devices. Tom had to restrain himself from correcting him in the way he really felt like doing at the moment, with a healthy dose of curses. His magic was crackling under his skin ready to spark and destroy something, but a few deep breaths and he sealed away that anger he could deconstruct it later.

"Someone acted in a way that upset me, nothing serious I assure you," Tom reassured the boy who nodded along as if he understood. Tom just gritted his teeth and pushed his emotions down, there was nothing he could reasonably do with his anger. He hadn't reached a point of power where he could act any way he wanted or take his anger out, he still needed to play a kind soul in front of the general public including the Slytherin who weren't among his somewhat trusted few.

"Are you having issues with a girl?" He asked already raising a hand to his chin as if this was an issue he could involve himself in.

Tom frowned not pleased with the implication that he was having juvenile girl troubles, "No, nothing of the sort. Just a person who didn't understand who they were talking to."

"Well what can you do?" Arcturus shrugged as if it was no big deal, "People get the wrong ideas pretty easily."

"Yes, indeed they do." Tom turned and walked away wanting to end the conversation before it really got started. That boy was tiring and Tom didn't have enough patience to put up with him unless he specifically needed something from the boy. He was going to take a break from teaching Hermione, he was doing it solely for his benefit and if she was causing him more strife than usefulness he had no real reason to waste his time.

She didn't know his schedule or workload and they always operated based on his free time so if he chose not to approach her there would be very little interaction.

* * *

Hermione was used to Tom being busy so a few days without hearing from him wasn't strange and she did have her own things to focus on, even if being a first year was arguably less time consuming. One thing she started doing was utilizing the their special room which Tom had at one point referred to as The Come and Go Room, it produced quite a nice library if she was thinking about studying or researching when she went inside. Wanting a specific book to appear didn't seem to work, the room would offer things on a subject she was looking into, but she couldn't simply expect a certain book to appear.

A solid amount of time between there and the library her friendship with Harry continued to grow and she had a slightly stilted, but friendly relationship with her dorm mates. Classes were progressing well she continually maintained her position at the top of her year, but she didn't feel fulfilled. Magic was a world she had stepped into and was absolutely fascinated by it, but she still felt like there was more she wanted to explore.

Perhaps it was just a matter of waiting until she was older, but she constantly felt a type of restless energy that she didn't know what to do with. Studying often scratched that theoretical itch, but only when she was actually using magic did she really feel connected to that piece of herself. Tom was the best source to do that, having a guide so she didn't have to fear any issues that might come with unguided exploration.

However as time passed without him involved she began to consider just allowing herself to move away from her natural cautious nature. She had a room where nobody could be hurt and damage naturally repaired itself upon her exit. It might be difficult to learn new things without someone to help her, but she had time, patience, and enough intelligence to practice what she could reasonably predict would succeed.

Spell combination and healing magic were the first two she began looking into. Serious healing magic did require a professional to study simply because it could be extremely dangerous if done incorrectly so she could only look into the basics which she'd started doing initially with Tom's supervision though he seemed dismissive of the field. Spell combination in her mind was being able to string together spells in ways that increased their usefulness which required her to master basic spells to build upon. So many of their classes were teaching them theory and spells, but it was one at a time and never seemed to explore the combination of spells.

Tom's use of magic to directly alter other magic in battle was part of what made her want to push further and see what charms could be used to greater effect by combination.

It would have been nice to have a partner to practice with, but despite Tom's absence she wasn't going to betray his trust and reveal the room to anyone else, not that her options were expansive to begin with.

* * *

Hermione was extremely happy for her new skills when her arguments with Ron came to a head, to be fair she probably could have handled him with little practice, but it was best to be prepared. Hermione was willing to admit she began taking more liberties since her last argument with Ron and stopped being as concerned about upsetting him for the sake of peace. Things finally broke down after a defense against the dark arts class, Hermione couldn't place what exactly was so upsetting about this particular course, but his eyes showed anger that she honestly hadn't been expecting.

"Don't even start with me Ron, I'm tired of this arguing," she said glaring at the boy the moment he felt the need to approach her.

"It's time to take you down a peg," Ron sent a spell and Hermione didn't pay attention to what he was casting instead she focused on casting protego much to the surprise of Ron and the rest of the students who again wanted to wait around and watch the show. Whatever weak hex he sent her way was blocked in response she decided to try something new out on him.

Science and magic really had a tendency to work well together if someone understood both so when Hermione sent a blast of what appeared to be simple water vapor at Ron she doubted anyone expected much. Ron's screams as the vapor quickly started spread around him made the majority of the students flinch back it also gathered the attention of professor Lupin, who after a recent moon had just returned to class and she doubted he was in the mood for any of this.

With a flick of his want the cloud went out a nearby window and Ron was revealed covered in a thin layer of ice. Professor Lupin seemed more impressed than angry when he asked, "Did you magically induce deposition?" Everyone looked lost largely because they were either raised in primarily wizarding homes or because they hadn't studied thermodynamics. His understanding reminded her that he was half-blooded and spoke to how he grew up, though she wasn't going to ask him.

At Hermione's nod he melted the ice and pulled the moisture off Ron sending it out the window he spoke again, "While I'm actually extremely impressed by this spell, I can't award any points because you attacked another student. I'm assuming he cast something at you as well because acting out like this is very unexpected from you Hermione."

Between a few students talking over each other Professor managed to get the full story and decided on the course of punishment, "Here's what we'll do: first you'll serve one detention together with me for fighting, second Hermione I want you to write a paper explaining your spell in full and why it shouldn't be used on other students, third Ron you'll serve a second detention alone with me for starting, and finally I'll have to take 10 points from each of you." He fixed a serious look at Ron when it appeared he was going to speak up to defend himself and the boy quieted down.

"After our next class I'll tell you when I plan on holding detention and that will be the day your paper is due Hermione," he finished and waved the students off to go to their next classes.

As they walked people glanced between her and Ron who had remained silent, the only person making noise was Malfoy who was chuckling because apparently it was hilarious. Wanting to get away from her students eyes and the Slytherin's laughter she shoved past Malfoy and sped up. She heard him say "Nice one Granger, you should get in more fights with blood-traitors it suits you."

* * *

Although Tom didn't say anything he was getting annoyed by how loudly Draco was talking, apparently the boy had something to tell his older cousin. Despite how haughty most of the Malfoy family acted they managed to maintain very good relationships with each other. Abraxas had mentioned Draco being more like a younger brother than a cousin, not that Tom fully understood or cared about familial bonds.

"After Defense against the dark arts class Weasley managed to get himself into a fight with Granger," Draco said laughing. He apparently talked enough about his experiences for Abraxas to know who was who, the amount of students in each year were actually quite small so it wasn't difficult. Tom didn't know or care to know many first years, but he doubted there was more than one Granger in Gryffindor.

Tom's eyes snapped over to Draco and he asked, "I always appreciate a good story, what happened Draco?"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to let me know what you thought.
> 
> Also just as a note deposition in its simplest terms is the direct change of a gas to a solid bypassing changing into a liquid. So the spell would freeze whatever the gas touched.


	7. Chapter 7

"I always appreciate a good story, what happened Draco?" Tom sounded appropriately interested, but hardly invested. Though truthfully a bit of information on his annoying little soldier might be enough to get her back her in his good graces. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but she got a bit under his skin the last time they spoke which didn't make sense to him because he shouldn't care.

Draco jumped into a tale that may or may not have been exaggerated about Hermione using some spell he'd never heard of that froze Weasley in place after he attacked her. Tom could tell that Draco didn't want to be impressed, but couldn't help stop it from being present in his voice. He was only a child and he'd seen someone he hated getting soundly beaten, he had time to learn proper decorum when discussing those perceived to be lower than him.

"Granger, I'm fairly sure I've heard that name before," Tom said mildly waiting to see what answer Draco would provide him.

Draco rolled his eyes, "The professors all love her, she's a total bookworm and the top of our classes so they probably were babbling about her. She hardly deserves the attention, more annoying than anything else."

Tom just hummed and replied, "I meant outside the school, in the wizarding world I believe in an academic capacity," he paused as if considering it before waving it off and dismissively finishing with, "but it's hardly my concern."

With the topic effectively cut off the conversation shifted and continued on easily. He'd sown just a few seeds of doubt about there being Grangers in the wizarding world and the time to correct him had passed, nobody would bother rehashing something minor just to disagree with him. Hermione was being given a chance to capitalize on that, if she chose not to for the sake of some arbitrary morality, then that was her failure.

It may very well never come up, but it might be interesting and it did bring her back to mind. He'd written her off for a while, but he supposed he could tone down how "busy" he was to see how she progressed. If Draco's story about her taking down an annoying red head was true, he could probably afford to make some time for her.

Soon after dinner he managed to catch Hermione alone in the hallway, her lack of friends made it quite easy to get her alone. He made sure to look sincere when he spoke, "I'm sorry I've been so busy lately, but I'd love to meet up this evening just to check on your progress. I have no doubt you've been improving on your own considering your drive to succeed," Tom inwardly scoffed at how thick he felt he was laying it on, but better to overdo it than have her upset.

"It's fine, I'm sure what you've been doing is important," she replied not questioning the older boy, though Tom thought he might have noticed the slightest moment of hesitation.

He nodded and instead of elaborating on what was so important he simply said, "If you're free why don't we head up now just to go over things? I'm going to grab a few things from my room first, but I can meet you in the Room of Requirement after you head inside." He phrased it as a request, but honestly he'd be annoyed if she didn't agree considering he was taking his time to speak to her and give her the opportunity to learn from him. His "friends" in Slytherin would certainly appreciate how considerate he was being so the idea that she wouldn't was foreign.

Honestly he didn't need much, but he wanted a good excuse for her to get there ahead of him. He was interested in what type of room she'd started to form for her solo practice sessions and of course he didn't want to be seen with her.

* * *

Hermione was willing to admit she was a bit surprised that Tom approached her out of the blue considering how distant he had been. It was to a point where she would have questioned whether there was anything actually keeping him busy, but she couldn't really imagine why he'd ignore her. Spending time with him was always nice and she was already planning on going to go to the library to start on her essay or heading to the Room of Requirement to practice anyway so she had no real reason to disagree. "Alright I'll see you soon," she walked towards the staircases while he went to the dungeons.

People rarely paid her much attention as she wandered the halls and this was no exception she made it to the room without any need to pause and the area was clear so she was able to enter right away. Knowing that Tom would likely want to do some spell casting, the room wasn't filling with books as it often did for her instead it was a large room with items that most people would consider random. However due to her experiments she'd been thinking about what types of things she'd need and in her desire to show Tom, everything appeared laid out fairly neatly. She took a bit of time to organize and think about what she and Tom might be doing.

Hermione was lost in her head enough that she couldn't tell how long she had waited, but when Tom arrived he apologized for being held up by a student he ran into. Good manners would always be appreciated in her book so Hermione didn't mind and she wanted to get things in order so it was no bother.

"So a little snake told me you were showing off some "wicked" spells after one of your classes," his voice was deceptively mild though he had a predatory smile on his face when he mentioned the spells. It was a smile that gave her pause for a multitude of reasons, some that made her want to blush and some that vaguely worried her.

"So you heard about that," it wasn't a question though the way she spoke it almost sounded like one. She didn't feel any real shame over what she did, Ron had honestly earned it with his behavior especially since he struck first, but she didn't like the idea of Tom thinking she would immediately resort to violence. Though if she referred to what she'd begun to see of Tom's personality and his reaction to the news she highly doubted he was judging her negatively.

"Yes, yes I did and I'd love to see that spell so we can discuss it," he said and clearly he expected her to agree because he'd already begun transfiguring a chair into a dummy for her to cast at as he spoke.

Hermione took a deep breath and cast the spell focusing to make sure she got it right and just as before when she used the spell on Ron vapor flowed from her wand towards her target and upon it's arrival it began freezing directly onto the dummy. Once the dummy was coated the rest of the vapor took a short amount of time to disperse on its own leaving the dummy covered in a layer of ice.

She glanced at Tom and saw a look of fascination on his face as he observed the dummy and tapped his wand on the ice a few times. With a spell to heat the dummy the ice slowly melted away leaving a puddle below the wet dummy. "The ice itself isn't charmed, correct?" Tom asked going through a few motions with his wand as if checking the water for lingering magic.

"No, essentially it's a charm that causes deposition, a gas becoming solid without passing the liquid phase, using aspects of a few spells namely aguamenti, glacius, and fumos. Glacius normally creates cold air and if cast correctly with enough power it can freeze liquid, but obviously that requires the liquid to exist. This spells breaks that barrier by replacing the smoke screen from fumos with water vapor and setting that to freeze the moment it hits a surface, but the ice that forms is a result of the spell not part of it so it's completely natural," Hermione explained wondering how much Tom had guessed about the spell before she explained it to him.

"Hermione that's fantastic, truly a great accomplishment," he congratulated her before trying it himself. It wasn't perfect, but it only took him one more try to have it completely under his belt which blew Hermione away. "I can think of a few ways this can be tweaked to improve it, but regardless it's wonderful. Plus it opens the door for more spells so we'll definitely have things to explore."

Hermione felt a blush rise on her skin at the praise and a flare of excitement of working with Tom again.

* * *

Tom could see her happy reaction at his praise and despite his urge to laugh at her clear need for approval, he was impressed. Bitterly and grudgingly so, but impressed nonetheless. Looking down on others for their success was rarely something he did mainly because rarely did others succeed and it never made him feel inadequate, but there was a distinct issue with what she was able to do.

It was true that they both grew up in muggle society, but their circumstances were quite different. He grew up in an orphanage with basic schooling and very few other outlets to study so he immersed himself in magical studies while here, Hermione on the other hand he guessed didn't face the same restrictions. She had two parents who clearly appreciated learning and likely gave her opportunities he didn't have even if it was just as simple as having books he'd never be able to get his hands on.

He had a tendency to reject the muggle world in most of its forms, but unlike purebloods or even halfbloods raised in wizarding society he was aware of what muggles were able to do. The things they had created and the advantages it afforded them weren't negligible of course by the same nature wizards had plenty that muggles would never be able to imagine or utilize.

So for the time being while he didn't have adequate access to any muggle information, she could serve as a source. He could hardly ask anyone in Slytherin, aside from not having knowledge they would judge him for bringing it up. So he reasoned that this was simply another useful characteristic of hers rather than any sort of weakness on his own. In fact it made it easier to have someone adequate explore avenues he wasn't interested in, namely anything related to muggles.

He might not have much knowledge of thermodynamics, but her explanation was simple and he was always quick to catch onto ideas. "What's the opposite, or rather what's the name of taking a solid and converting it directly into a gaseous form?" Tom asked thinking about the complexity it would require to develop a one spell fit all for something like that. Part of the reason this initial spell worked was because water was a very simple choice the spell would require tweaking for different gases and even that was infinitely easier because you'd be creating the starting point.

Converting a random solid into a gas on the fly wouldn't be simple he imagined. His musings were cut off when she replied, "Sublimation, but I think it would be more difficult."

Tom explained his thoughts and she nodded along agreeing with his points offering her own. "To be honest I think that aspect should be placed on the back burner," he admitted knowing it'd probably be more of a headache than it was worth at the moment. Hermione readily agreed likely having explored the subject to a degree especially seeing how easily she followed his train of thought.

"Do you have anything you'd like to show me from your studies, or would you rather move onto studying and practicing now?" He asked.

"I have a few more things I'd like to show you," she admitted looking slightly shy as if he might reject her despite having asked the question.

"It wasn't a trick question, I'd be happy to see what you've prepared," he laughed lightly trying to appear friendly and gestured for her to carry on.

She really was quite useful.

* * *

The time for detention was approaching, honestly in her opinion self defense shouldn't be basis for punishment, but professor Lupin explained after class when he gave Ron and her the date and time for their detention that he couldn't let her off without and repercussions considering she had hurt another student. If he was punishing Ron she had to be punished as well although Ron did get an extra detention.

Professor Lupin told her she didn't need to have her paper written until the day of Ron's second detention, but considering the notes she had taken while creating the spell it was simple to do and was a good review when trying to improve upon the spell. So the first thing she did when meeting with professor Lupin and Ron for detention.

"I should have expected you to finish early, thank you Hermione," professor Lupin offered her a soft smile clearly not harboring any anger towards her, "I'm actually quite excited to read about it. Was it an original spell or just something a bit obscure I didn't recognize?"

"I developed it on my own, I've been studying with an older student and he inspired me to take steps in improving myself," Hermione admitted keeping Tom's name out of it.

Professor Lupin hummed, "Considering you chose not to mention a name I suppose he doesn't want you spreading it around or you'd rather not share so I won't pry, but take any encouragement to heart. Pushing to be the best and achieve the most you can is always something to strive for."

Hermione's need to justify her secrecy, not that professor Lupin was demanding it, was subverted by Ron showing up to his office just in time to avoid being late.

"Before detention gets underway I want you two to explain what happened, I heard the version of what the other students witnessed and I saw the result, but what truly caused this. I wanted to wait until we were all together to talk through this, you're classmates and from the same house, why are you fighting?" Remus asked not raising his voice or sounding accusatory.

"To be blatantly honest, I think Ron is a rude person and I've done everything in my power to avoid him, but he continually badgers me and tries to start arguments. He gets upset that I do well, when he should spend time focusing on himself," Hermione explained succinctly not bothering to be delicate as she might be for another person.

Ron turned red with anger his temper clearly showing itself, "If she wants to spend all her time studying than she can, but she's a showoff and a know-it-all."

"Has she ever directly done anything to you Ron or are you just upset with her in general?" Professor Lupin asked because obviously it was his own jealousy causing him to act out not that Hermione was doing anything wrong.

"She's a swot," Ron said as if that explained much of anything and clearly professor Lupin was as unimpressed as she was because he brought the conversation to an end. This probably wasn't the time to do a deep dive into Ron's inferiority complex.

"Ron, that's not a reason to start trying to cast spells at her. However I think you and I can discuss that more when we have a private detention. For now you two will be helping me with a project."

"What project professor?" Hermione asked immediately interested wondering if it related to class.

"It's hardly a secret that I'm a werewolf and therefore need my wolfsbane potion, and I'm sure you both know that a major ingredient in the potion is indeed wolfsbane. I plan to create a garden which contains all the plants needed for my potions, its my small way to make it easier for the school to lower costs slightly. I know Pomona would be more than willing to do it, but I don't want her to go out of her way and tending to a small garden isn't a huge hassle. I'd brew the potion myself if I could, but potions has always my weakest subject because my senses are, well sensitive. Brewing usually hurt my eyes and the smells made me uncomfortable, I mainly got through it thanks to doing well on the written work." Professor Lupin explained.

"Are we helping you build the garden?" Ron asked essentially what Hermione wanted to know, what their role was going to be. Remus pulled something out of his robe which turned out to be a picture of wolfsbane apparently for them to look over.

"No, that's all taken care of, I need to get some samples of wolfsbane to introduce it to the garden. It's far less common than it used to be and therefore is more expensive, but I know for a fact that there is some growing in the Forbidden Forest so we'll be taking a trip," he explained far too casually than someone should be when speaking about the forest which was forbidden for multiple reasons. "It won't be long, the centaurs informed me of a general location where some wolfsbane has been growing and they have very little use for it."

"You have a good relationship with the centaurs?" Hermione asked, she knew very little about them, but she was aware they didn't love humans wizard or muggles.

"They generally don't like wizards, but having lived with werewolf packs for a time I've seen and experienced werewolves developing a different bond to nature and the world than normal wizards. The centaurs recognize this and as long as I try to avoid their specific land they are willing to largely ignore me when I'm in the forest and I'm actually friendly with a few since Dumbledore has me act as the go-between whenever we need to contact them," he explained.

"Woah, that's wicked," Ron said sounding impressed.

"Still it's best that we don't run across them because they are quite finicky and might not appreciate you two hanging around the forest," he said, but seeing their expressions he amended the statement with, "no need to worry they are very honorable and won't hurt children, they'd be more cross with me than you."

"Right," Ron sounded far less sure, but he followed professor Lupin as he began leading them away from his office and out of the building.

It was a cool night, but quite clear with no wind so it was bearable. "You both remember the wand-lighting charm right?" Professor Lupin asked not pausing his steps which were measured to allow them to keep pace despite his much longer legs.

"Lumos," Ron responded absently and though Hermione couldn't see his face she assumed professor Lupin was pleased.

"Correct take five points, and once we enter the forest cast the spell so you can see. I'll guide you to the area and explore, just let me know if you see any wolfsbane, but don't touch them the leaves are poisonous."

They all quieted down when they finally stepped into the forest aside from Ron and Hermione casting Lumos, Professor Lupin apparently didn't require added light to make his way around. Whether that was familiarity or another werewolf trait Hermione didn't know and she felt compelled not to disturb the silence so she chose to keep her question to herself.

The amount of time it took to reach the area professor Lupin had been talking about, which was a wide clearing filled with different types of plants, was difficult to guess, but it probably wasn't more than 15 minutes. Now that they weren't under the coverage of trees it was a bit easier to see, but the sun was still setting so she didn't cancel her spell. She and Ron were sent to look over a specific portion of the clearing to see what types of plants they saw and pay attention.

She and Ron worked in almost complete silence communicating only when necessary, which worked for her. She wondered if it was only because he was worried something would hear them and attack, she didn't blame him the silence was almost disturbing and the slightest rustle from the dark corners of the forest sent shivers down her spine.

In the end they only found one sample of wolfsbane in their search, though Professor Lupin apparently was more successful considering the larger ground he covered. "I found plenty so you can leave that to grow and spread," he said with a smile as if that didn't mean they essentially did nothing.

For once Ron agreed with her, "So why did you even bring us, if you were just going to do it on your own? We were useless."

"Nonsense, I appreciated the company and you got a chance to work together," Professor Lupin clapped his hands as if that proved anything.

"We didn't even talk, I wouldn't consider it some great partnership," Hermione pointed out though she realized she probably shouldn't talk down about her and Ron getting along lest she convince him to force them to try again.

"Sometimes silence is golden," professor Lupin replied easily, "it stopped you from fighting didn't it?"

"We aren't going to win this argument are we?" Hermione asked and professor Lupin shook his head.

"There's nothing to argue about, you served your detention, I found some samples, and this is a very interesting place I think I might come back some time to enjoy a night out," Professor Lupin explained how everyone won and though Hermione didn't agree, nor clearly did Ron she went along with it and followed professor Lupin back to the castle running slightly late for dinner.

* * *

Hermione always seemed the type of person to arrive exactly on time so when she arrived late to dinner with professor Lupin and the red head in a dirty robe he took notice. He remembered her mentioning detention, but unless he took them outside to wrestle he had no idea why they were dirty. He didn't care, the only reason he even considered it was because he was a naturally curious person.

He was sure he'd be just as curious no matter who it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long, but at least you can see I haven't dropped the story. I do have a question about how much you want to hear about Tom or Hermione developing or discovering magic. I don't know how interested people are about going in depth.
> 
> Also by this point I'm sure you've realized I make werewolves a bit different than the books. I prefer to think that the changes to a person go beyond just transforming once every full moon, I like the idea that it alters people on different levels. However if I explore that deeper it will be in a different story with Remus as one of the main characters, but he's still one of my favorites and he does play a minor role in this story.
> 
> For the sake of explaining how long things have been going on it was late September when Hermione and Tom met and it's now early November. So they've been meeting for a bit over a month. Hermione read all of the material for first years once she got her books before the school year started which is why she was/is able to study ahead (plus she doesn't have much else to do).
> 
> Please feel free to comment or give kudos to let me know what you think.


End file.
